City 14
by Piefish
Summary: The tale of a Citizen arriving at City 14 before things go horribly wrong for him and he is forced to join the resistance to survive.
1. Chapter 1

City 14

I remember the dream I had before I arrived. I was in a field…a field of grass stretching over the hills for as far as my eyes could see. In the distance…mountains, beautifully tall mountains that somehow merged with the ground below. It was beautiful. It was so wonderful. It was so…unlike real life.

I was woken up as the voice of the announcer said "Attention please. You are now arriving at City 14. Have your relocation certificate ready for inspection by local Civil Protection.". I like how there was no Please or thank you in that sentence. Of course why would they need to be pleasant to us when this is not a pleasant world to live in?

I took my head off the cold metallic bar my head had been leaning on whilst I was sleeping and then stretched my limbs. I then looked out the window to see if I could tell which country I was in this time. It was always a guess. They never told us where the next City was…only what number it is.

The City looked European. A lot of the signs were in English which led me to believe I was in the United Kingdom. Finally. Back where I started. I hadn't been back to the UK since before the Black Mesa Incident. I was on holiday in Spain at the time in Mallorca. We were then evacuated from the Island to Madrid as the Xen life forms began to appear. I remember the first time I saw a Bullsquid rip off someone's arm. I will never forget the sight. Back then I had a family. Of course we were separated however when "our benefactors" got here. Sent to different cities to maintain the same number of people in each City. Not that it was easy for them to do that. The number of people seemed to drop all the time. Especially in City 17. Maybe it had something to do with Nova Prospekt being near. Maybe they just needed an excuse to bring more people there to have them converted into Overwatch Soldiers. Or maybe it really wasn't "Safer" there after all.

As the train slowly made it's way along the tracks into the station I managed to make out the name on one of the signs. It said "Ipswich". It never used to be a City. It was a Medium sized town at the most. Maybe the Combine just call it a City as most of the Cities are destroyed. Buried in rubble or infested with Headcrabs. I guess they're making do with what they've got, kind of like we are.

As I got off the train and walked through the station, people were having their luggage taken from them by Civil Protection. I never carried luggage after the first time it got taken from me as I didn't have anything else left to take with me. A screen showing Dr Breen talking the usual nonsense that he had been broadcasting in every other City was hanging from a wall inside the station. I then showed my Coupon to a Civil protection officer. I was then allowed to go through the station and into City 14. As I came out of the station I noticed the huge Citadel at the middle of the City. It seemed closer than the other Citadels had been. Maybe because this City was so small.

I then had to make my way to my new home in this Urban Jungle. I wasn't told what road or which building my home was, only instructions on how to get there. I passed through one of the 3 combine barriers blocking off the three roads leading away from the station, holding up my hand to the camera as I went through. I then made my way along the bridge to find my new home.

Following the instructions I had been given I made my way through the City. As I went through I saw piles of rubble where houses had been, Bullsquids and Headcrabs in what used to be a river but was now just a slight stream, old nightclubs and a cinema around a car park which had now been turned into a base of operations for the Overwatch, Screens showing Breen everywhere and a Combine wall around the area of the Citadel. Eventually I came to a large apartment building and made my way to the third floor. This building was nicer than the previous places I had stayed. It must've only been new when they invaded. I then came up to the door of my flat. The door was already open and I could hear voices inside. I walked in and the people inside turned around to look at me. A man with Black hair and a slight beard then came over to me and shook my hand. He said in an American accent "Hey there. Welcome to Room 29. I'm Colin." He then pointed to the others as he said "That's Jill, Ted and Helen." They were all standing around the empty flat that had only a chair and a couple of mattresses in it. "What's your name son?" Said Colin. "Chris…my name is Chris.".


	2. Chapter 2

City 14

It had been 2 months since I first arrived in City 14. I was having glimpses of the dream I had on the train before I got there. It was never the same though. It just seemed fake now. I was then awoken by the sound of humming and beeping…well when I say awoken I really mean I was snapped out of my sleep deprived state. It was slightly light outside so it must've been around 5 or 6 in the morning. A scanner had found its way into the flat. How I wasn't sure. Maybe through a heating duct. These things are like flies. They just bother you constantly. And the main feature that they have in common with flies is that they just don't understand windows. This little Artificial… 'Intelligence' seems to have been built without the knowledge of how a window works. Not unlike the combine to cut corners though.

I got up from my spring less and stained mattress and made my way over to the window to let the stupid thing out. I walked quietly trying not to wake anyone else up. They somehow managed to be able to sleep on those uncomfortable mattresses. I opened the window slowly so I didn't make a sound. The scanner saw me opening the window and moved towards it. It then turned to me and then took a photo of me. The flash from the scanner blinded me for a couple of seconds. I let out a slight groan. As my vision restored, the scanner was gone. I closed the window and then wondered back to my mattress when I was interrupted.

"Can't sleep?" asked Colin. "No it's not that, I was just letting a scanner out" I replied. "Ah scanners. Horrible things. Tell you what, as you're already awake, fancy doing something today?" He asked. "Well…like what?" I asked wondering what exactly there would be to do. "Come on I'll show you" He then walked past me and out the door. I was now interested in what it was he wanted to show me so I followed him. We walked through the mostly empty streets of City 14. The only people we could see were Civil Protection officers. We walked along the river until Colin seemed to suddenly stop. He then said "Make sure there aren't any CP's that can see us." I then looked around for any Civil Protection officers and then said "I can't see any" He then said "Good. Come on, you'll like this." I just looked at him with a confused expression as he then pushed back some shrubs to reveal a manhole cover. He then lifted it up and went down the ladder beneath it. I didn't want to be caught out alone by Civil Protection so I followed.

The ladder went down for a few metres until it came to a long tunnel. We then walked down the tunnel for a while and then eventually came to a door to the left of us. Colin then opened the door to reveal a room full of dead Combine and Xen wildlife. I was staring at the decaying pile of bodies whilst Colin started speaking. "It started off as just a headcrab. But then I felt the need to kill bigger things. That's how that Bullsquid got here. I then wanted to kill more…intelligent things. So I started killing CP's. Beautiful isn't it?" I didn't know what to say. I was horrified by this room of death. I then managed to ask "Why did you bring me here Colin?" he looked puzzled and then said "Well…to form a resistance of course. You're going to help me" Colin then stuck a gun in my hand. "Colin this is nuts! We have to go back now, if Civil Protection catches us down here…" I was cut off by the sound of gunshots. Civil Protection had followed us and were now shooting at us. Colin was firing back as I took cover behind part of the fallen ceiling. Colin kept firing until an officer shot him right in the head. There was nothing I could do. I was now trapped with officers still firing at me. Then suddenly a pack of Houndeyes ran down the tunnel making angry dog like sounds. They ran towards the officers, completely ignoring me. I knew what would happen next so I then took this as my chance and ran down the tunnel as fast as I could. The officers were focused on the Houndeyes as the creatures let out their signature sonic cry. The officer's eardrums exploded from the high-pitched noise. They had all become deaf. I had just managed to avoid it…barely. I then made my way outside the tunnel to find out I was near the beginning of the river and the only way back would either be through the tunnel I just came from or through the river. The Bullsquid, headcrab infested river. I had no choice so made my way along the river with my gun in hand. I didn't know how to use it but thought it may scare some of the enemies I meet so they won't attack me…well…I was hoping it would.


End file.
